One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges filed for bankruptcy as conspiracy theories have emerged around the key players involved. There are claims that FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a child of Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the SEC, which has been posted on social media platform sites, it's false.

The child relationship rumor is unfounded. Samuel Bankman Fried, the former FTX CEO is a son of Joseph Bankman, who is not the SEC chair. Gary Gensler, who was appointed in 2021 as SEC chair, has 3 daughters (none named Caroline) and there's no known relationship between FTX and Gary's daughters.

It’s quite likely some social media platform accounts posting those false claims are actually referring in error or confusion to "Caroline Ellison" (she's alleged to be Sam Bankman-Fried's lover). Caroline is the CEO of Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading firm partnered with FTX and also filed for bankruptcy.

Caroline Ellison's father is Glenn Ellison, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Ellison has never served on the SEC. With that said, Caroline Ellison’s father did in-fact work with Gary Gensler when they both taught at MIT so there is a connection after all, which is suspicious and needs to be closely scrutinized.

Making the connections appear even more suspect, Sam's Dad Joseph Bankman is a wealthy and well-known Government Policy Compliance Lawyer and Sam's mother Barbara Fried is a prominent figure at a top level of government and regulatory agencies.

There's also allegations Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler may have worked with FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried looking for legal loopholes that FTX/Alameda could take advantage of. And to add to the frenzy, Samuel Bankman-Fried is a major Democratic Party donor!

P.S. - An SEC spokesperson failed to respond to a request for comments.